Remaking Fashion

Remaking Fashion examines the process of making – and evidence of the process of making – in contemporary fashion. In recent years a new aesthetic has emerged where elements of clothing construction have become components of design. The materials traditionally hidden such as fasteners, foundation materials and interior supports, and methods specific to the process of making, such as basting or raw hems, have been reinterpreted as design elements. Visions usually privy to the individual or the maker are divulged and venerated.

This exhibition draws on the National Gallery of Victoria’s extensive and rare collection of Pierre Cardin toiles. These toiles were used throughout the 1960s to make Pierre Cardin dresses for the Australian market and form the genesis of this aesthetic. More contemporary examples by designers such as Rei Kawakubo at Comme des Garçons, Maison Martin Margiela, Helmut Lang, Yohji Yamamoto, Alber Elbaz for Lanvin, Nicholas Ghesquiére for Balenciaga and John Galliano for Christian Dior provide examples of the emergence, development and continuation of this aesthetic.